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Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Show Us Your Books: Birthday Eve book talk

Is there a better way to spend my birthday eve than talking books? No, there is not. Well, I could be talking books from a warm, sunny beach chair under the sheltering shade of a colorful umbrella, but other than that, no.

Linkup Guidelines:

This link up happens the second Tuesday of every month. The next is Tuesday, April 11, 2017

1. Please visit and comment with both of your hosts, Jana & me2. Please display the button (need it? let me know) or link back to us on your blog post2. Please visit a few other blogs who've linked up and get some book talk going!

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough - I sped through this book, totally engrossed. Then something that sort of crossed the line into another genre that I don't typically read happened, and I was like hmmm...then the end came and I had no idea that was where it was going. It was unusual, so on that alone I'd recommend it. BOTM hardback, owned/passed along for someone else to read

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens - Sometimes it feels like I've wanted to read a book forever - and that is this book. It was much different than I thought it would be, and the focus was even different than I thought it would be, but I really liked it. More towards a four than a three, maybe. Library paperback

The Seven Husbands of Eveyln Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid - I loved this book from start to finish - complicated, interesting, and I loved the story within a story, which I typically don't like. I want to meet Evelyn Hugo and at times I wanted to be Evelyn Hugo because she just storms through her life and that is powerful, even when it leaves earthquakes around her. ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Passed the Time Just FineLucky You by Erika Carter - Really weird. I'm still not sure of what the whole point of this book was, but I liked the writing a lot and given that it was short, it took me almost no time at all to get through. BOTM hardback, owned/passed along for someone else to readAlmost Missed You by Jessica Strawser - I liked this book, but it definitely required suspension of belief. I loved the Grandma relationship but the husband and wife relationships were bizarre to be kind. Free ARC e-book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

The Widower's Wife by Cate Holahan - I spent a lot of time confused here. Which is actually not a bad thing in this sort of book. A very quick read. Amazon e-bookSister Sister by Sue Fortin - I had this figured out early, but it didn't stop me from rushing through it to figure out how it ended. I liked the writing. Amazon e-book

Perfectly Undone by Jamie Raintree - This was a three for a while but it blossomed into a four. It shook off some things that annoyed me in the beginning. The characters seemed to settle into themselves and that's when the story gelled. More of a love story than I usually read, but I didn't mind it. Free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.The Hearts of Men by Nickolas Butler - Shotgun Lovesongs is one of my favorite books of all time. I also enjoyed the short stories collected in Beneath the Bonfire. The raw grittiness mixed with searing beauty of those is missing from this: the narration is more detached, and that made me as a reader feel more removed. Does that mean it's not an accomplished novel? No. The writing is good, and the story, nuances, and language show his range as an author. It spans 60 years and feels like an epic in some ways. I didn't connect with it like I did the aforementioned works, but honestly? Nothing he could have written would have surpassed Shotgun Lovesongs for me. Hardback, own

Not Worth ItPerfect Little World by Kevin Wilson - This book was trying earnestly to be literary. The way it's written, packaged, marketed, even the title and cover seem more about a vehicle to sell it than something to sink into. The story could have been great, because the premise is interesting. On goodreads I have it as a three but it's actually probably a 2.5. It ended up feeling pretty surface. BOTM hardback, owned/passed along for someone else to readThe Loving Husband by Christobel Kent - This book was a mess both in how it was told and the actual story line, which I felt like I had to keep running after and grabbing only to have it fly off again. There were zero characters I could get behind.Free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.Did Not FinishTell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta - I loved Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son from jump. The writing and story got me both times. This one, I got about 20 pages in with no click. It could be a great book, but it's not for me and I won't go back to it.

45 comments:

So I stayed up since it's a snow day and started watching episodes of Long Island Medium and am on my 3rd one and it's almost 2am! Jmj. So glad it didn't snow when you were born. Wishing all to be safe and sound and keeping the power and that this is the final snow. Love. Your. Momma.

Well, you know I loved Behind Her Eyes. And the genre line it crossed is one I like but I didn't put a lot of stock into it when it started to drift there, which is why the ending really blew my mind. I had to read the ending and epilogue like three times before I fully got it and then I laughed and laughed and laughed. I also really enjoyed The Life We Bury because I adored Joe and Jeremy. I'm going to try and get an ARC of the TJR book. Fingers crossed.

Behind Her Eyes and The Life We Bury are already on my tbr. I added Perfectly Undone and the Nikolas Butler one. I'm a little surprised by your DNF with Melina Marchetta's latest, but it was nothing like previous ones that you enjoyed. I always say that not all books work for all people, and I always find it interesting what works for some and not others. It reinforces our individualities.

ahh so good to hear TJRs new book is a good one, I totally missed it on netgalley (probably for the best, my shelf is out of control). tell the truth shame the devil was in my library pile and i had to renew it several times and just gave up. i'm sure i'll get back to it eventually, maybe, but i have other books of hers i want to read first that sound more like my cup of tea. glad you liked the life we bury!

I can't wait to read Evelyn Hugo when it comes out since Netgalley didn't approve me...it sounds awesome though, and different than some of her other work! It will be a solid summer read for me, I hope :) The Life We Bury and Behind Her Eyes both sound really engrossing. I am curious about the genre cross - it totally throws me off when that happens in a book and I'm not expecting it, haha.

I'll have to check Behind Her Eyes - I love a book that just surprises me.Hope you are ready to celebrate your day!!! Thanks for doing this link up - I love all the books that I load to my "must read" list every month.

I already had The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Almost Missed You on TBR list, and after your review, I want them to move up very quickly! Perfectly Undone also sounds like a great book, and I love that it's set in Portland too! It seems like everybody is talking about Behind Her Eyes, so it's definitely going on my list too!

Happy Birthday Eve! I'm excited to eventually read The Seven Husbands... though I still need to read One True Loves. Loved your thoughts on Perfect Little World- I've gone back and forth on adding it to my tbr list and will probably skip over it for now.

I need to read the Seven Husbands for sure. It always amazes me how much you read, so inspiring. I need a snow day (or beach day, even better!) and a public transit commute in my life so I can read more!

I feel like I'm seeing Behind Her Eyes everywhere, I'm going to need to read that one. I've never heard of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but it sounds really interesting. I like to read about strong women like that.

I wish Behind Her Eyes had been better for me, but I must have liked it because it kept me reading; the bizarre turns threw me for a loop. I've had The Life We Bury in audio for so long and still haven't read it, but I think I need to move it up. I really want to get to Seven Husbands. I love Taylor Jenkins Reid books that I've read.

We are on the same page with alot of these! My favorite this month was hands down Evelyn Hugo- you should read Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk-it was a BOTM last month- similar and great! I was bored by Lucky Us- it just never really went anywhere. I didn't finish Perfect Little World even though the description really grabbed my attention!

I love how you always have books on your list that I haven't heard of. Because of this link up I have TJR on my list and she is someone who I normally wouldn't gravitate towards.I haven't started Hearts of Men yet but plan on it soon. I know Shotgun will be hard to top.

Downloading Behind Her Eyes right now. I need a new thriller. I feel like the TJR book might be Elizabeth-Taylor-ish? If that makes sense. I really want the audio because I LOVE her books on audio. So I'll wait til June. I want it now though.